My Fathers, The Baltic by Philip Levine: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem My Fathers, The Baltic that begins with:

Along the strand stones,
busted shells, wood scraps, ...

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abcaXXdXefagXgXffeabgdeXcffdXehacXdbaXiieeheX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 45,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01011 10111 10110 11011 10011 010001 010010 01010 001100 1111 1011 0110 01110 111 1011 10101 10111 1100 011 1111 10001 01110 11101 0101 11001 11101 01010 11110 11011 0101 1111 110 10001 10100 11110 10011 11110 10101 110110 11110 101 11011 11111 10111 11011
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 929
  • Average number of words per stanza: 161
  • Amount of lines: 45
  • Average number of symbols per line: 20 (very short strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 4

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; your is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words a, your are repeated.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines money is repeated).

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of My Fathers, The Baltic;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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